Oh yeah! He certainly didn't want to miss the first ball; but he planned to pocket the 8 ball exactly as he did. His thought process was, " If I make the first ball and I put the 8 ball somewhere in the vicinity of the right corner pocket, it's 4 balls spread out and an easy run out. I'll try to make both of them; but, there's only a one in a hundred chance ithe 8 ball will go in."
So he put both follow and left English on the cue ball. He had to. If he didn't put follow on the ball he would have ended up frozen on the 8 ball. He knew that if he put only follow on the CB, the two balls would travel together to the end rail together and end up close to each other.
So he put BOTH follow and left English on the cue ball, knowing full well the cue ball would be nudging the 8 ball to the right all the way to the end rail. He knew full well if he did this, the cue ball would eventually nudge the 8 ball, at the very least, to the right long rail, and out of the cue ball's way. Then he'd have an easy run out with 4 balls separated.
He tried to pocket the 8 ball though instead of just sending it to the long rail....He did it! As I said, I'll say he pockets the 8 ball one out of a hundred times. That being the case, he was doing exactly what he was trying to do!